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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I've made a blonde roux before. I've made a dark roux before. But until tonight, I've never made a “redhead roux”.

But first, here are some shots from this past weekend's Bloomin', Barbecue & BluegrassFestival in Sevierville. Alexis and I spent a sunny day in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains hanging out with the KCBS BBQ comp folks, shopping the vendors, and listening to bluegrass music. I'll post more details about the event and some of the fascinating teams I met later on this week.

I came up with this recipe on the 20 minute drive home from work tonight. I had 4 links of raw chorizo to use and I thought about Alexis' Italian Sausage Alfredo sauce. I day dreamed about making a Tex Mex version of that dish. I zoned out of the traffic on I-640 and went through the mental pantry of what I had at home. It was kind of hard to concentrate about it, with all of the shrieks or terror and honking car horns around me as I drove weaving home obliviously through the interstate traffic. (Kidding...I'm a semi-responsible driver.)

Remove the pasta from the casings, crumble into pieces, and brown over medium high heat. Break the meat pieces up into small pieces as it cooks down, this sauce does better with smaller pieces at the end.

Place a colander over a bowl or plate. Remove the meat to the colander.

Add the peppers and shallow to the pan and cook over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Remove to the colander with the meat.

Pour 3 Tbsp of the collected drippings from the plate/bowl under the colander back into the hot pan. Add the butter and flour, stirring continuously for about 5 minutes until you get a nutty aroma. Don't be alarmed over the flaming red/orange color cause by the chorizo drippings.

Thoroughly whisk in the 2 cups of milk and taco seasoning. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Whisk in the cheese and cook another 5 minutes.

Stir in the meat, veggies, and sour cream.

Serve over cooked pasta and garnish with the oregano.

The peppers & seasonings gave it a flavor punch, the spicy cheese sauce made it creamy, and Alexis couldn't say enough about how much she loved this. It was rich and delicious but if I was just making it for me, I'd add in some diced habanero. If you don't like hot foods, sub some diced green or red bell pepper out for the jalapeno.

14 comments:

What a great creation Chris - I will definitely have to give it a try. Thanks for the shots at the festival - didn't realize there was so much going on - we'll have to get it on the calendar for next year. I thought the interview turned out okay except for the background noise.

This sauce looks awesome, love the name!! I would go sans pasta for my preference, but it just means I would get to eat more sauce :) I am getting a HAUL of Dead End to take to a party this weekend, so I thought of you as a perused the menu!! My mouth is already watering for their smoked sausage!! Food and Wine just did a feature on using wood chips to impart smoke flavor on a gas grill, and I am making it my mission to attempt that this summer!

Oh- and I have a grilling question. Lately, a bunch of my grilling items have either caused massive flames or actually caught fire and have been inedible :( I know it's because the fat is dripping down, but it's not like I'm going to use extra lean beef for a burger! We keep the grates pretty clean, but do I have to clean the burners in the grill? Or do I preheat on high and then reduce the heat when I put the food on to prevent the fires? Or am I just a bad griller? HELP! E-mail me! We are grilling for my visiting family this weekend and I can't serve hockey pucks!!

I wish I didn't already have fish unthawing, I would make this pasta tonight!! Wow does it sound delicious! Chris even walked by my computer and said...are you going to make that? please make that! :) Nicely done...and I love the idea of adding some habanero - a definite bite back!!